Photo: credit to Deb Cloud from National Geographic
Archive for November 23rd, 2009
The Wild Turkey: Thanksgiving Can’t Be Without You
On November - 23 - 2009
Most people have seen a flock of wild turkeys because they are everywhere. We often take them for granted even – like we do some other birds. Well, what if wild turkeys weren’t there anymore? This was the case nearly a century ago when wild turkeys were on the decline due to hunting and habitat loss. The early 1900s saw only about 30,000 wild turkeys. This may seem like a lot, but that number is less than the amount of polar bears left in the world and that’s a species of concern today. However, today wild turkeys have numbers close to 7 million birds. The wild turkey’s road to recovery can give hope to other species facing declining populations in today’s world.
People view wildlife and land as if they own it. That was the problem wild turkeys had with people because hunters would hunt when they wanted, take how much they wanted, and didn’t care for the consequences. Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell, both conservationists, set out to change people’s view of the land and its wildlife. They wanted to show people that the land is for everybody to share and it is an investment that we all need to protect. Thus wildlife protection legislation was passed and enforced. Even citizen-conservationists played a role in helping the wild turkey recover. The National Wild Turkey Federation worked with the government to assist in the recovery of the wild turkey populations. There were mistakes and missteps along the road, but overall the wild turkey did recover.
There’s a lesson to be learned with the wild turkey, a bird once on the decline, but now so populous. People take it for granted and never wonder that it once was in trouble. Even species that are so common today, like Canada geese, shouldn’t never be taken for granted. For they too could have had a troubled past.
